Athos, one of the main characters of The Musketeers. Amongst his fellow Musketeers, he is often regarded as a leader, and a close associate of Captain Treville. However, his mind is often clouded by drink, giving way to memories of his terrible past. As the leige lord le Comte de la Fere, Athos was married to Milady de Winter and lived in a manor house in the countryside which he shared with his brother, Thomas. When his brother was suddenly stabbed to death, Athos learnt that Milady was the killer, and he ordered her hanged for murder. Many years later, he learnt that she had not died, and was living freely in Paris. Athos is played by Tom Burke.

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In his early life, Athos was in love with Milady de Winter and shared a house near Paris with her.[1] He arranged with Remi Blacksmith to execute her, however, after she killed his brother, Thomas. He observed her hanging and left the area for good, but was unaware that she survived.[2][1]

In 17th century Paris, Athos awakens in his room with a serious hangover. His room is littered with empty wine bottles. He dresses his blue leather tunic, Musketeer shoulder guard, hat, sword and walks down the street arriving in a local bar where he finds fellow Musketeer Porthos and Red Guard, Dujon, playing a harmless game of cards. After losing, Dujon demands Porthos fight in a (illegal) duel, but refuses Porthos access to his sword. Spectating the duel, Athos impatiently knocks Dujon on the back of the head, explaining that Treville wanted to see them immediately. He chides Porthos when he discovers he had cheated in the game.

Whilst visiting Treville, Athos and his friends are informed of a Musketeer named Cornet who disappeared on one of the King's engagements to Chatres. They are ordered to find him. After the three return from the Monastery, D'Artagnan arrives accusing Athos of his father's murder. Dueling with the man, Athos forces him to stop the fight, not wanting to maim him. When Porthos and Aramis join in, they are forced to cease the attack as Constance Bonacieux arrives shouting about how unfair their fight is - three against one. Immediately after, Treville arrives with a troop of Red Guards, there to arrest Athos on the suspicion of robbery and murder. Now imprisoned in the Chatelet, Athos is visited by a Priest ho asks for his sins. Athos tells him of a woman he once killed. When the Priest leaves, he starts dreaming of the woman again in his past.

Athos preparing for his execution.

At his execution, he becomes annoyed when the soldiers seem to take too long to shoot. But before they can, Aramis and Porthos arrive holding a signed release from the King himself. Athos is relieved and indirectly thanks D'Artagnan for his part. Athos celebrates by himself in the tavern, while he thinks about the woman he once killed.[2]

Athos helps to orchestrate D'Artagnan's arrest by sparking an illegal duel. This is for the Musketeers to get inside information on the criminal known as Vadim. On Good Friday, while the Queen was granting clemency to a bunch of prisoners, Athos went to visit D'Artagnan. When the mass escape happened, he attempted to restrain as many prisoners as he could, before Vadim escaped with the help of his accomplices.

In a secret meeting in the Bonacieux house, Athos was reluctant to allow D'Artagnan to continue with his investigation as he wasn't whether to entrust him with everything. Locating Suzette Pinault, Athos and Aramis interrogated her about her nighttime meeting with Vadim. He was disappointed that she could not tell them anymore than they already knew. Athos later joined Treville to interrogate First Gentleman of the Bedchamber, Lavoie, about Vadim's time in the Louvre palace. They learnt that Vadim was the primary suspect in the disappearance of a diamond pendant from the Royal Vault.

Athos protects the Queen from Vadim's followers.

At the Easter mass ceremony, when a fake attack happened, Athos deduced that it was a distraction from the true threat, which was Vadim robbing the King and Queen. Athos arrived at the palace with Porthos and Aramis to thwart Vadim's plans, but was not aware of the secondary explosion underground, and he and his friends were temporarily knocked out. After waking, in a secret underground passageway, they found a group of Vadim's followers, whom they dealt with easily. Following the tunnel, he and his friends came across D'Artagnan who had killed Vadim with his sword.[3]

Sent to Le Havre on a mission to capture Emile Bonnaire, Athos discovered that the man had many enemies, including his own wife, Maria Bonnaire. After proceeding to arrest him, he and his friends found that they were being followed on the road to Paris. At a derelict building, they were ambushed by men hellbent on killing Emile, lead by Paul Meunier, but they managed to subdue them. Athos persuaded Paul to keep away from Emile, while they escorted him to Paris, but he did promise that the man would have justice. Reluctantly, after Porthos was injured, Athos brought his friends to a house, which he claimed that he owned.

Athos investigates his old house.

While he stayed at the house, Athos found himself drawing memories of his time with Milady de Winter there. He also had visions of the actual hanging, which he observed personally. He later visited the tree where it had happened. Feeling guilty, he went to visit Remi Blacksmith after ordering D'Artagnan and the others to head to Paris. However, he found Remi had killed himself after seeing Athos' return.

Lost in emotion, Athos started drinking heavily again, and in his drunken state found that a section of the old house was burning. Milady de Winter revealed herself and explained how she had survived the hanging. Angry, Athos tried to attack, but was too weak to do anything, and Milady prepared to kill him. However, D'Artagnan announced his arrival, and Milady fled, leaving Athos in the smoke. He was dragged from the burning house by D'Artagnan and he explained that his wife had not been killed.

In Paris, Athos stopped Leon, the spanish soldier, from shooting Emile, believing it to be too conspicuous. However, later, he and his fellow Musketeers planned to have Leon capture Emile and ensure that he could never continue with his business again.[1]

Athos was present at the parade for the arrival of the Duke of Savoy. He helped to search for the assassin who had tried to assassinate the Duke upon his arrival with his fellow Musketeers. When the assassin was not found, Athos was posted to the palace to protect the grounds in case of future attempts. Aware of some secret being kept, Athos asked Aramis what he was hiding. After learning about Marsac's friendship with Aramis, Athos was determined to tell Constance Bonacieux the true nature of the man. When the Savoy soldier, whom Marsac had captured, claimed that Captain Treville was responsible for giving away the location of the massacre Musketeers, he advised Athos to not act rashly and respect Treville before making a judgement.

Athos duels the Duke of Savoy.

At the palace, Athos was requested by the Duke of Savoy to fight in a duel against him. Athos agreed, and was initially losing the fight, until he gained the upper hand and disarmed the Duke. As a sign of his victory, he cut the Duke on the soldier, for which he was scolded by Treville. Reluctantly, he apologized to the Duke in his quarters, but he was lucky to discover scarring on the Duke's back, which proved Marsac's claims correct. Confronting Treville on the basis of Aramis' findings, Athos suspected that the captain was hiding something. While discussing what to do next, the Duchess of Savoy rode into the Musketeer courtyard to demand that they find Cluzet and stop him from being found by the Duke.After thwarting the Duke's plan, Athos was present at the peace treaty held in the palace.[4]

Following a night of fun and games for Porthos' birthday, Athos was surprised and a little anxious to hear that his friend was arrested for murder after being discovered lying next to a dead body. At his trial, Athos observed the proceedings bitterly as the judge sentenced Porthos to death immediately. Attempting to slow down the Red Guards, Athos, D'Artagnan and Aramis follow him out of court, but witness him being recaptured instead by masked criminals. He later confirmed that Porthos had been taken to the Court of Miracles. He told the others to investigate the Wren tavern while he infiltrated the court. He was stopped by Charon on his way inside and told that Porthos would never return to the Musketeers.

Athos went with Aramis and D'Artagnan to the Mauvoisin household to meet Emile de Mauvoisin. There, they explained his son's death and revealed that a Musketeer had been charged with the murder. Emile explained to them that his son had been living on the Rue Calbert for a short while, but believed he had not involved himself with any bad company. Later, Athos returned to Emile with new information that linked his son with a planned bombing of a Catholic church, due to his devoted connections to Protestant faith. Emile revealed that he tried to keep his son away from that religion.

After a full revelation from protestant Pastor Ferrand placing Jean de Mauvoisin as innocent, the Musketeers and Captain Treville immediately sought to arrest Emile. At his residence, he explained that his planned bombing of the Court of Miracles was already being executed. Athos joined Aramis and Porthos in protecting the court from destruction. He fought the Servant of de Mauvoisin one to one, killing him. He later helped locate Porthos and ultimately foiled Emile's entire plot.[5]

Athos is mainly quite a reserved character. He has a reckless nature that evidently spanned from his love life. His feelings conquer him every day and almost all situations, he finds himself regretting what he did.[2] When he makes a mistake, he's angry with himself for not seeing through the deception.[3] Coinciding with his emotional memories of his time with Milady, he goes through another stage of depression where he can't stop drinking.[1]

He does have a soft side, however, and puts his sincerity before anything else. When D'Artagnan duels him, he fight in a way that he doesn't want to hurt him.[2] He also visits D'Artagnan in the Chatelet to support him.[3]

Overall, he has great honesty. After discovering that Porthos had cheated in a card game, he allowed the opponent to have all the takings. When he was accused of robbery and murder, he may have protested, but as soon as he was imprisoned, he did not complain or attempt to escape.[2] Clearly, also, he isn't afraid to speak his mind about the traumatizing dilemma he has with remembering his past with Milady to D'Artagnan.[1] Even when Aramis is certain Treville once betrayed the Musketeers, Athos is able to reserve judgement until proper evidence is put forward.[4]

Above all, Athos has a superior intelligence. He is simply able to formulate plans, and is second in the Musketeer regime only to Treville, his captain.[2] He worked with Treville to plan the mission to intercept Vadim's assassination plot, which they had suggested to Cardinal Richelieu.[3] Athos does show an aptitude for negotiating, as he demonstrates when he persuades Paul Meunier to keep away from Emile.[1] He can also be trusted in doing the honorable thing including dueling the Duke of Savoy in a respectful way.[4]

At first, there is no on-screen meeting with Milady de Winter, however, he Athos shows quite a reserved feeling about her. Carrying around her pendant, it seems he often thinks about her and regrets what he did in the past.[2] It is later revealed that Athos had a very close relationship with Milady in his early life, which was broken when she killed his brother. However, as Milady commented on herself, he found it difficult to watch her hang, and left before the hanging had been completed.[1]

Athos and Treville often formulate plans together in order to thwart their enemies. They plotted with Armand Richelieu to bring down Vadim and his followers.[3] Athos is mainly inclined to believe and respect Treville, even when accusation are made against him.[4]

There is almost a teacher-student relationship at first, between Athos and D'Artagnan. But it soon transforms into something more brotherly. Athos understands D'Artagnan's anger as he attacks him and accuses him of murder, but at the same time is adamant not to harm the boy.[2] Athos is wary to choose D'Artagnan for the job to intercept Vadim's plans. But when the boy succeeds in killing Vadim later, he is respectful enough to congratulate him on a good mission.[3] When Athos is in desperate need, D'Artagnan is there to save him, and Athos is surprisingly able to convey his secret encounter with Milady to D'Artagnan who promises never to speak of it again.[1]

There is a great friendship between Athos and Porthos, however Athos does find some of Porthos' deeds a little over the edge. Their meeting in the tavern with Dujon shows that Athos does grow impatient with his friend at times.[2] Nevertheless, Athos is willing to go to great lengths to protect his fellow Musketeer.[5]

Athos has a very tolerant relationship with Aramis, but they draw parallels at times. They are both able to relay their thoughts and feelings to each other easily, and respect each other enough to honour those feelings.[1] Whereas Aramis is impatient and want answers quickly, Athos is willing to hold judgement on Treville before finding some genuine evidence.[4]

Sylvie and Athos had a complex relationship they met in season 3 episode 2 and had to have a on and off relationship ever since because of Athos' work and the fact she was an left alone and was 'homeless'. Sylvie was some time put in danger (especially when she became pregnant)and a target because of athos but sylvie was ok with taking the risk, Athos wasn't though.

Athos is a natural leader, and as started by Treville, the finest swordsman in the regiment. His skill was almost unparalleled, with only d’Artagnan being able to hold up against him for a certain time, and the only time he was really defeated was his first encounter against Lucien Grimaud; this may however be because of his unhonourable fighting style and possibly due to the distraction of Sylvie Boudain,